


my dream has grown wings, but my heart lies with the sea

by driedupwishes



Series: somewhere across the sea, somewhere waiting for me [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-26
Updated: 2014-09-26
Packaged: 2018-02-18 19:42:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2359949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/driedupwishes/pseuds/driedupwishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The airport was crowded. It reminded Haru of the last time he had been in the airport, only a few weeks before, but he didn’t have any bags this time. Rin stood in front of him, a suitcase beside him and a carryon bag slung over his shoulder. Rin was twitchy, more restless than Haru had seen him in a long time, and it almost made Haru smile.</p>
<p>"Rin,” Haru said. “You’re going to miss your plane.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	my dream has grown wings, but my heart lies with the sea

The airport was crowded. It reminded Haru of the last time he had been in the airport, only a few weeks before, but he didn’t have any bags this time. Rin stood in front of him, a suitcase beside him and a carryon bag slung over his shoulder. Rin was twitchy, more restless than Haru had seen him in a long time, and it almost made Haru smile.

“Rin,” Haru said. “You’re going to miss your plane.”

“Plane doesn’t take off for an hour,” Rin said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and then back. He ran a hand through his hair, or went to, but he was wearing another cap and the hat fell to the floor when his fingers smacked into it. Haru held back a few chuckles as Rin scrambled to pick the hat back up, watching with a warm feeling in his chest as Rin shoved the hat back over his mused up locks.

“Rin,” Haru tried again, but Rin cut him off.

“You’ll be fine,” Rin said stubbornly. It wasn’t the first time he’d said it and Haru was starting to wonder if Rin was going to be fine. He didn’t want to ask, because Rin seemed to be working himself up into something and it was usually better to let Rin say what he wanted before confronting the other oy. So Haru rocked back on his heels and watched as Rin finally looked him in the eye, the other boy’s jaw clenching with determination.

“You’ll be fine, Haru. You’ve talked to your coach, you’ve moved into your apartment, and you already know what classes you’ll be in. So don’t worry, because I know you’ll be fine.”

“You’ve been talking to Makoto,” Haru said calmly. It wasn’t an accusation, just a fact. It was the only way Rin would have known about Haru talking to the swim coach at his university or about the class schedules being sent out already. But Rin flushed a little and looked away, guilty and keyed up, which just made Haru want to smile again.

“Rin,” he tried again, but apparently Rin wasn’t done.

“Yes,” the taller boy cut in again, “I have been talking to Makoto. But I wanted to know how he was doing and then he just wouldn’t shut up, you know, and he kept talking about how you had met your coach and seen your pool and-“ Haru watched as Rin swallowed roughly. The dark haired boy glanced at a nearby clock, feeling some disappointment that he wasn’t going to be able to listen to Rin ramble all day. Rin really did need to get his bags checked and get on the plane before it left him stranded, so Haru took a bracing breath. Rin wasn’t done and at the breath he stuttered to a stop and switched sentences mid-word.

“Haru,” he practically shouted, taking half a step forward. “You’re going to be fine. You’re a fast swimmer and you’re driven, okay, you’ll be able to place and improve without a problem. You won’t-“

Haru heard the unspoken words clearly. _You won’t be like me._ And he frowned, suddenly feeling annoyed. “Hey,” he said, a little offended, “stop that.”

Rin sputtered but Haru just shook his head. “Sure, I’ll be fine,” Haru said, glancing away before continuing with a soflty muttered, “but you’ll be fine too, Rin.”

Rin blinked silently, mouth falling open a little bit. Haru felt the urge to smile creep back up on him and he did so, small and careful as he ducked his head. “You’ll be fine,” he repeated quietly, shoving his hands in his pockets a little self consciously. “You’ve talked to your coach and you already know where you’ll be swimming. You’ll improve no problem, Rin, so stop worrying. You’re going to have fun in Australia, I know it.”

Rin deflated a little bit, but he smiled slightly, his cheeks tinted pink. “Shut up,” he mumbled. “We were talking about you, not me.” They stayed like that for a moment, but then the smile disappeared as his eyes widened and he jerked forward another step, his hand flying out to grab Haru’s shoudler. His grip was tight and Haru could feel Rin’s panic seemingly return full force, trembles ghosting from Rin’s fingers into Haru’s bones.

“This isn’t goodbye,” Rin yelped loudly. People were starting to look, but that had never really bothered Haru. Instead he leant into Rin’s touch, waiting to see where the other boy was going with this. But Rin just starting trembling harder, eyes wide with panic, repeating, “This isn’t goodbye,” in a softer tone of voice that broke in the middle and suddenly Haru understood.

“Rin,” Haru said, curling his hand around the other boy’s wrist and squeezing a little bit. “Calm down.” He squeezed again, taking a half a step forward to put himself almost toe to toe with Rin, and watched as the other boy breathed, deep and even, in an attempt to get himself under control.

“Of course we’ll see each other again,” Haru said, his voice softer than before. He almost wanted to cluck his tongue at the other boy, like his grandmother used to do with him when he was being stupid, but he didn’t. Instead he took a deep breath and pulled up the only thing he could think of that would make the other boy understand.

“You always come back to me, Rin.”

Rin’s eyes shone with tears and Haru chuckled quietly, more than used to Rin’s cry baby tendencies. But another feeling built inside Haru and before he could examine it too closely he gave into the urge, the one that had pestered him since he’d seen Rin smiling at him in Australia weeks before.

Haru leaned forward and kissed Rin softly on the cheek, his nose twitching a little as some of Rin’s hair brushed against it. He pulled back, rocking on his heels again, and watched as Rin stared at him, wide and startled. Just as he was beginning to worry that he had ruined everything Rin turned pinker than Haru had ever seen him, the color spreading all the way to his ears.

“Next time I see you, my time’s going to be at least three seconds faster than yours,” Haru told Rin. Rin’s face contorted, his blush now stretched across an indignant scowl, but it was Haru’s turn to cut him off, this time by stepping back and carefully pulling Rin’s hand off his shoulder.

“You’re going to miss your plane, Rin,” the darker haired boy said, grinning openly now. Rin laughed, throwing his head back so hard that he almost lost his hat a second time, but as he settled into a more calm stance he seemed ready to leave finally.

“You’ve been spending too much time with Makoto,” Rin teased, reaching for his suitcase handle with an absent hand. “You’re turning into a worrywart like he is.” And when Haru made a face at that, his nose scrunching, Rin carefully leaned in and gently kissed Haru on the cheek, his chapped lips sending little jolts down Haru’s spine.

“See you, Haru,” Rin whispered, his voice cracking. And Haru just hummed at him, hands clenched in his pockets as the taller boy turned and started toward the terminal where his plane was. Haru’s chest was warm and tight like he had been underwater too long as he watched Rin’s figure grow smller and smaller with distance, not being able to take his eyes off him as people shifted and walked in front of him, blocking his vision.

“See you next time,” Haru whispered as Rin moved past the check in point, signifying that he wasn’t going to be able to change his mind and come back to get the last word in. But then the other boy stopped, as if he had heard him, and whirled around to lock eyes with Haru across the distance.

“Haru,” Rin shouted, dropping his suitcase to cup his hands around his mouth. Rin’s voice echoed and people started to turn again, but their attention wasn’t the reason Haru twitched bodily, his heart clenching.

“Next time we meet it’s going to be my time that’s at least three seconds faster!”

Haru’s curled trembling grip went slack in his pockets and he couldn’t swallow back the small chuckle that bubbled within him. From across the terminal Rin grinned widely before turning on his heel once more, scooping up his suitcase, and disappearing from sight. Haru only let himself smile for a moment after the other boy disappeared before he too turned around and walked away, truly excited for what the future held in store for him for the first time in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Free! ended and I am not as okay as I would like to be, but the ending was super great and beautiful and like I want to watch t eight more times. And I probably will, later. But instead of doing that immediately I stopped shaking long enough to write this and a sequel! Should be posting the sequel in a few hours after I clean it up some, but yeah, here's my first shot at writing these ridiculous swimming boys.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed! :)
> 
> (Also there might be more to this series later, but as of right now I know there are two parts so.... :))


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